Arthur Fils knows what he wants from a tennis match.
Whether he’s watching at home or strutting his stuff on court himself, the French #NextGenATP values style as much as substance. Fils attributes this belief to a generation of natural born French entertainers whom he grew up admiring.
“I watched a lot of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and of course I know Yannick Noah because he won Roland Garros,” Fils told ATPTour.com. “[Style] it’s so important, because when you watch a tennis match you don’t want to be on the couch and just watch game, game, game. You want to see some highlights, and I think with Monfils, Tsonga and Richard Gasquet’s backhand, we saw a lot of highlights.”
The 19-year-old Phils showed some of his own shooting skills on Tuesday in Jeddah, where he beat Luca Nardi in his first match as a top seed at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM. Fils is in Saudi Arabia looking to cap off a breakout year that saw him rise from No. 249 to No. 36 in the ATP Pepperstone Rankings and lift his maiden ATP Tour trophy in Lyon.
That ATP 250 clay title was one of a string of impressive performances produced by Fils on home soil this season. He reached an ATP Challenger Tour final in Quimper in January and back-to-back ATP 250 semi-finals in Montpellier and Marseille in February before his triumph in Lyon. Some players struggle to cope with the expectations of the home crowd. Fils enjoys it.
“The support at home is incredible,” he said. “We play for that kind of energy, for that kind of crowd. When you play at home, everyone supports you, everyone calls your name. It’s something deeper and I think if I’m French and I’m going to play elsewhere, it won’t be the same as when I play at home. We play for these kinds of things.”
A country steeped in tennis history, France’s wait for a Grand Slam men’s singles champion reached 40 years this year. The public’s expectation of a first male major winner since Noah at Roland Garros in 1983 is something the likes of Monfils, Gasquet and the now-retired Tsonga have all shouldered.
None of those players managed to get past the duck, but Fils still looks to his more experienced compatriots as a vital source of advice as he prepares to lead his team, along with other French #NextGenATPs like Luca Van Assche and Arthur Cazaux. the next years.
“They help me a lot in the dressing room, on the court and off the court,” Fils said of the older French players on Tour. “I have no pressure [from the public]I just want to be as good as them or better than them, but no pressure.
“My goal in tennis is to enjoy every second I can on the court. To smile in every match I play and do my best to win great tournaments and if I can get high in the rankings. I will do my best and I have big goals.”
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While being free-spirited on court is often seen as something of a French trait, Fils doesn’t base his approach on any of his fellow ATP Tour players, past or present. He has already shown himself to be a charismatic presence who enjoys responding to big atmospheres and is ready to push as high as possible in his own unique way.
“My explosiveness and my fitness [are my strengths]” said Fils. “The way I play helps me sometimes because the crowd likes to support me a lot in physical fights.
“It’s something in my personality to bring the energy. It’s not important for my game, but it’s important for me.”